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| Features |
| Govt business is not a one-man show—Dulani |
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by
Mzati Nkolokosa, 28 February 2007
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10:13:10
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The twists and turns of Malawi politics are making good reading here at home and beyond. Malawians living abroad besides being eager to know what’s happening here at home, are being bombarded with questions from friends of other countries who want to understand issues about Malawi. Mzati Nkolokosa hears from political analyst Boniface Dulani currently at Michigan State University reading for his PhD in Political Science about how Malawi is viewed out there, and other matters. Excerpts:
Malawi sometimes puzzles me because people in other continents tend not to know much about our country. Do people at your Michigan State University where you are reading for your PhD in Political Science know Malawi?
This being an academic community, one finds a more knowledgeable population than would perhaps be the case among the ordinary public. The African Studies Centre at Michigan State University (MSU) brings together professors and students interested in research in and on Africa. This includes a number of Malawi-specific research in fields ranging from political science, agriculture, anthropology, fisheries, education, economics and others.
Additionally, the various MSU libraries stock very good collections of African literature, including documents and books on Malawi, some of which one might not even access in libraries in Malawi. This, of course, does not mean everyone knows about Malawi. Generally, and for obvious reasons, knowledge of Malawi is higher among faculty staff than among the general student body.
With perhaps the notable exception of Madonna’s adoption of David Banda, very few students have heard anything about Malawi before. This is not necessarily a bad thing because what makes the news tends to be negative news: mass famines and starvation. That Malawi does not make the news means that there has not been much negativity to report on.
Overall, the average American knows very little about Africa, let alone Malawi. A few even have perceptions that we still live in trees and walk around in our birthday suits!
People tend to worry with the number of political parties we have. Do we really have to worry about this in a multiparty democracy? Is there harm in having over 30 political parties?
The essence of multiparty democracy is to give voters more choice. This is supported by findings of a recent Afrobarometer survey, which determined that nearly two-thirds of Malawians (63 percent) consider having many political parties as a good way of ensuring real, wider choices on who governs them.
Compare this to only 27 percent who disagreed. On the surface, therefore, having so many political parties, when looked at in isolation, is not a problem. The question we need to ask though is: To what extent are the 30-plus political parties in Malawi stand for different platforms so as to give voters real, meaningful choice?
Unfortunately, the main difference appears to be names and leadership. The bulk of our parties are no more than channels for realising the egoistic ambitions of leaders and fail to give the voter any meaningful choice. Instead of giving more choice, the numerous political parties become a source of political instability as the current system makes the likelihood of vote dispersion very high.
Despite our use of a majoritarian First-Past-The Post (FPTP) electoral system, we still end up with inconclusive election results where winning presidential candidates struggle to secure absolute majorities while parliamentary elections produce a numerically fragmented House. Under these circumstances, the country could perhaps be best served by a handful of parties that advance distinct policy and ideological agendas than having thirty-plus parties that stand for the same thing.
We often talk about democracy lacking in our political parties, which is true, because they often shun conventions and the parties are personalised. Isn't it too early to expect democracy to mature just 14 years after we voted for multiparty democracy?
Democracy is a process and we have made significant strides in the last 14 years, considering where we have come from. Although it is true most of our political parties lack the basic institutional characteristics of democracy, we should not confuse democracy with political parties. Rather than focus on parties alone, we need to ask whether Malawians themselves are still supportive of democracy because it is these, not parties that can make or unmake democracy.
Here, the evidence is somewhat mixed. The Afrobarometer survey found that a 56 percent majority of Malawians consider democracy to be preferable to any other type of government. However, at the same time, there has been an increase in the number of people who prefer non-democratic systems of rule, including military and a return to one-party rule.
This comes against a background where there is an increasing dissatisfaction in the country about the nature of our democracy with 61 percent considering the country’s democracy to be faced with major problems. What is even more worrying is that among African countries, many Malawians are pessimistic about the future of democracy with less than half (42 percent) of the view that Malawi will remain democratic in future. All this points to a rather gloomy future. But this pessimism could also possibly be a reflection of our high expectations of democracy that we feel it is not delivering.
This might, in turn, take us towards demanding for better performance from our elected politicians, a factor that can only be good for the sustenance of democracy. After all, even the US experienced problems in the 2000 elections with the infamous hanging chads. This just goes to show that even the more established democracies have their own share of problems and we cannot therefore expect our democracy to become perfect only 14 years down the line.
President Bingu wa Mutharika is about to clock three years in office. He set his own standards which should be used to measure his success. Being an intellectual, what is your assessment of Mutharika's commitment to education?
Firstly, I am flattered to be considered an intellectual. I don’t believe I deserve such an accolade. The real intellectuals are the ordinary men and women of Malawi who, despite the myriad socio-economic challenges, improvise and survive and share their knowledge with us researchers. Turning to the question of judging the performance of the President, this is obviously very subjective and considerably premature three years after the last elections.
Government business is not like a simple business, where we go to the market in the morning and count our profits in the evening. Government business does not generate such instant profits. There have, of course, been positive developments, but the challenge remains on whether we can stay on this course or get diverted on the way.
And although very often the President takes the credit, government business is not a one-person show. Everyone, from the President, Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament, government officials and the ordinary people has to take credit for whatever achievements have been made so far.
At the same time, we also need to be vigilant and not to get too carried away. Looking at the misuse of public resources for party activities, we can see some warning signs that generate a sense of deja-vu.
On education, there have been some positive developments in terms of increased investment towards this sector. Increased funding to the university, in particular, has been a welcome development and this has brought stability and predictability to our perennially under-resourced colleges.
I am not convinced though that Mutharika’s government has done much in the primary and secondary education sectors. In our primary schools, children continue to learn under trees, secondary school pupils are sitting on the floor in old, dilapidated buildings. Considering the bulk of the schooling population is at primary and secondary levels, I feel government needs to work more in this area.
Now with Masaf gone, one cannot help wonder where we are going to get new classroom blocks from. Mutharika’s commitment to education is also overshadowed by his choice of Minister for Education. Like others have said, choosing individuals who have no credible academic qualifications to head such an important ministry is perhaps one of the biggest blunders made by this administration. Not only can such individuals fail to inspire confidence, but they also act as poor role models for the millions of children that are currently in school.
Feedback: mzatinews@yahoo.com
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